Fight against cocaine: Shooting the engines of smuggling boats should soon become standard practice

Shooting the engines of smuggling boats? This, at least according to the wishes of European investigators, could soon become a standard method in the fight against cocaine – shows a confidential document obtained by German journalists.

Action-packed footage: On the night of October 17, 2025, a French Navy helicopter tracks a speedboat hundreds of kilometers off the European coast. When the powerful-engined vessel fails to stop after warnings, a sniper takes aim at the engines and opens fire.

The boat is stopped shortly afterwards. Security forces eventually arrest the crew and seize 2,3 tons of cocaine. It is one of the few successes of the security services in the fight against a growing problem that has left customs and police increasingly powerless.

Shooting the engines of smuggling boats could soon become standard practice in the fight against cocaine, according to European investigators. This is according to a confidential document from the European organization MAOC-N (Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics), obtained by German public broadcasters NDR, WDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Request for long-term naval missions

In a document titled "Call to Action," the MAOC advocates "the use of force during pursuits at sea, including measures to stop engines and the use of firearms" in the fight against drug speedboats.

In addition, the MAOC document calls for long-term naval missions against drug smugglers. The Maritime Analysis and Operations Center (MAOC) is based in Portugal. Eight European Union countries, including Germany, participate in its work.

The document should be seen in the context of the increase in cocaine smuggling that has been affecting Europe for several years. Until now, criminal gangs have mainly organised smuggling through large ports. However, since Hamburg, Antwerp and Rotterdam have stepped up security measures, less cocaine has been seized in the former hotspots.

Experts, however, do not see this as a sign of a reversal of the trend. On the contrary, it is very likely that more cocaine is arriving in Europe than ever before, it is just being detected less.

"We adjusted the security measures and the perpetrators had to find other routes," says Hans-Joachim Leon from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).

Leon heads the narcotics sector in the Serious and Organized Crime Department. Some of the new routes are already known, while others we don't know about yet, he says.

"Cocaine Highway" to Europe

Security services are particularly concerned about a trend developing in the maritime area between Madeira and the Azores. This is shown by an international investigation. Europol is already calling the area the "cocaine highway" to Europe. According to investigators, drugs are increasingly not being smuggled in containers to ports, but are being reloaded on the high seas and then transported to Europe.

Criminal gangs from Spain and Portugal are increasingly using speedboats for this. "Big ships loaded with cocaine arrive and suddenly hundreds of speedboats appear to take over the logistics and enable the cocaine to be transshipped," describes the situation, as Andy Krag, a Dutchman who heads Europol's organised crime department.

Security services, meanwhile, are noticing that speedboats are sailing towards real "floating ports", far from the European mainland, where their crews can stock up on food and fuel. In this way, the small boats cover distances of 1.000 kilometers and more.

Do pet tona kokaina

One speedboat can hold up to five tons of cocaine. These boats are a major problem for security services today. On the one hand, they are extremely difficult to detect in the vastness of the Atlantic, and on the other hand, chasing them is very dangerous.

The boats, called "narcolanchas" in Spain, are typically equipped with powerful engines and pose a security risk to police and customs.

"Drugs are mostly handed over on the high seas and then brought into river estuaries in rubber boats, especially in Spain and Portugal," says Hans-Joachim Leon from the BKA.

Smugglers are now also equipped with weapons of war, which they use without hesitation when their shipments are threatened. The pursuits are also dangerous because the highly motorized drug boats are often superior to police vessels. Research shows that since 2024, a total of 14 members of European security services have been injured in such operations, while five officers have lost their lives.

Powerless in the face of new developments?

When talking to investigators, one gets the impression that they are overwhelmed by the developments in the situation. Over the past year, European security services, based on information from the MAOC, seized 92 tons of cocaine. The MAOC's task is primarily to identify ships on which drugs could be smuggled into Europe. For this purpose, the center uses data from intelligence services and the police, as well as publicly available information.

In an interview, MAOC-Na's chief analyst Paulo Gomes da Silva said he estimates that around 700 tons of cocaine were not seized last year: "We often lack the operational resources for that."

In a confidential document, the MAOC-N is therefore also advocating for the future regulation of the sale of speedboats at a European level. In order to effectively combat gangs, it should be possible to deploy naval forces off West Africa and in the sea area between the Azores and the Canary Islands.

Request for stronger cooperation

A similar document has been drafted by the French authorities and is currently being discussed in European institutions and ministries. As early as late 2025, the European Commission called for stronger cooperation between police and judicial authorities in the fight against drug trafficking.

The Dutch Ministry of Justice, in response to a query, showed an openness in principle to the involvement of the army. In Berlin, however, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior rejected the request for a stronger involvement of the navy. The ministry announced that the involvement of the Bundeswehr in the fight against crime is not envisaged in principle.